


there's a bad moon on the rise

by green_tea31



Series: MacGyver Season 3 Tags [5]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s03e14 Father + Bride + Betrayal, Gen, Mostly Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 10:12:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17660756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/green_tea31/pseuds/green_tea31
Summary: "We bring people in, so the Phoenix can use what they know and a lot of them go on into witness protection with a new name and a clean slate, but that’s not how Delta operates, that’s not how Jack used to operate.”Well, that makes a disturbing amount of sense, given what Bozer knows about Jack. This is one of those moments that make him realise that he might have been at the spy game for a while but he’s still somewhat of an amateur compared to Mac and Jack.(Jack is gone and Bozer has a question. The answer isn't quite what he expected.)





	there's a bad moon on the rise

**Author's Note:**

> Quick and dirty tag to 3x14 because the way Jack reacted to Mac wanting in on the task force kept bugging me. Tagged as pre-slash because I plan to add a second chapter somewhere down the line when exams are over and that will be Mac/Jack. For now, this can be read as gen. Be aware that this was written in a hurry and has been barely edited by yours truly because I don't actually have time to write what I want to write at the moment. 
> 
> Title taken from "Bad Moon Rising". I've been listening to CCR on repeat since watching 3x14 and remember reading somewhere that it was inspired by the apocalypse. That's the type of mood I'm in right now.

It’s late by the time Riley finally leaves. Bozer sees her to the door and hugs her tightly, both of their eyes suspiciously red. It’s just him and Mac now, sitting side by side, watching the dying embers in front of them and Bozer isn’t really sure what to say to his friend.

It’s not the first time they let a night in end like this but it’s a far cry from anything resembling normal now, with Jack gone. The first time Mac had brought Jack to the house, Bozer had thought _finally_. He’d thought he’d found an ally, someone else who would put Mac first. Now that Bozer had to find out that there is something Jack will put above Mac, even a concept like duty, he isn’t really sure what to do.

Doesn’t know if he should do anything.

Doesn’t know if he even could.

There’s something that’s been bugging him about the thing though…

“You know…” Bozer begins, hesitating when Mac looks at him, blue eyes strangely distant in the almost dark.

“Hm?”

“For a moment, when Matty told us about Jack, I really thought you were gonna tell us you’d go with him. I mean…I thought you’d go work on that fancy task force, too. Couldn’t really see him leaving you behind. Not after…you know.” Bozer tells him, not sure how well mentioning Mac’s time away will go over right now.

Mac just huffs quietly and smiles a smile that is too sad to be true. “You know Boze, so did I. But Jack doesn’t want me on that task force and if that’s what he needs from me right now to be able to keep his head in the game and stay safe, then that’s what I’m going to do. No matter how much I don’t want to.”

“Wait, what? What do you mean he doesn’t want you? How do you know that? Did he tell you that?” Because if Jack did, Bozer might have to find a way to punch Jack Dalton without getting himself killed or at least seriously maimed in the process.

“Not in so many words, no.” Mac sighs and sits up straight, staring in the distance. “I told him to get me on the task force but Jack told me it wasn’t up to him.”

“That doesn’t sound like he doesn’t want you there, Mac.”

“The thing is…”Mac looks at him and Bozer can see that he’s working through a problem, thoughts spinning behind his eyes. “The thing is, for all that Jack’s an almost legendary operative, as much as someone can be in the covert ops community, he has a few glaringly obvious blind spots if you’ve known him long enough and one of them is the fact that I always know when he’s lying to me.”

Mac is silent for a moment before he nods as if he’s solved the problem and now sees the way forward as clear as day.

“If Jack Dalton wants someone on that task force, you can bet your life that that someone is going to be on the task force.” Mac states with faith in his voice and Bozer wishes he could be that sure about Jack right know but it seems that over the last few hours Bozer’s world view has been turned on his head – again.

It’s been a long few years.

“So…why doesn’t he want you there? I mean, I’d want you on my task force if I had to hunt down a dangerous terrorist.” He says and Mac smiles at that. It’s just a small one, barely the twitch of a lip but it’s his true smile and that’s a good a start as any.

“Because Tiberius Kovac is a part of Jack’s past that he still fools himself into thinking I don’t really know about. He thinks he has to protect me from that and I think that’s one of the reasons he doesn’t want me anywhere near Kovac.”

“But you do know about that. You met his old team and everything!” Bozer isn’t sure what Mac’s getting at.

“That’s not…what we do at the Phoenix isn’t what Jack did with Delta, Boze. We’re trouble-shooters. Most of the time Matty sends us in before things go down, before men like Kovac even get the chance to become as powerful as he is now. What Jack used to do…what he’s doing right now, is more like clean-up. _He_ pulled the trigger. Not because Kovac was about to shoot someone else that Jack had to protect, but because that was the mission. To _kill_ Kovac. We bring people in, so the Phoenix can use what they know and a lot of them go on into witness protection with a new name and a clean slate, but that’s not how Delta operates, that’s not how _Jack_ used to operate.”

Well, that makes a disturbing amount of sense, given what Bozer knows about Jack. This is one of those moments that make him realise that he might have been at the spy game for a while but he’s still somewhat of an amateur compared to Mac and Jack.

“Jack still sees himself as the villain sometimes, Boze and while I’ve tried my hardest to change that the most important thing now is that Jack makes it back in one piece. If believing that I’m still oblivious to the darker aspects of his past helps, that it’s going to keep me safe, then that’s what I’m going to let him believe – for now.”

“For now?” Bozer asks. Because that doesn’t sound like Mac plans on letting Jack off this easily.

“At some point I’m going to make him realise that I’m not the nineteen year old kid he met in Afghanistan anymore and that I also don’t need to be protected twenty-four seven and that I definitely don’t need to be protected _from_ Jack.” Mac sounds annoyed as hell and Bozer really wants to be a fly on the wall when that conversation happens.

“You know Mac. That kinda makes you sound like a Disney princess.” Bozer teases carefully, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

“Shut up, Boze.”

“You shut up.”

Mac grins, the familiar twinkle back in his eyes.

It’s not perfect with one family member missing but yeah, they’re probably going to be okay.


End file.
